The Taste of Lingering Lips
by the-real-m3
Summary: How about this, if you always end up here no matter where you go, then each time you get lost, I'll come here and find you."


Yeah, I know, ANOTHER ONE?!

Sorry, but I'm still here in the hospital. I probably won't get out until a couple of days after school starts. That's always a pain in the butt. Anyways, I tried writing a happier short but it seems I suck at doing that and I have absolutely no motivation. The ironic thing is I don't read stories that don't have happy endings.

So, this is actually kinda only the start of the story, so it might be three or so chapters long cause I'm really feeling low on energy, but I just need to do something to occupy my time!

Oh, and if you recognized the lines that the Ashley's mom first said, then that's because I kinda stole them from Fruits Basket..!

I don't own fruits basket, or those lines...The one with the (adorable face, adoracle etc etc)

So yeah, rights to those lines go to Natsuki Takaya.

The Taste of Lingering Lips

**The air was cold, the breeze hitting hard against solid features and stinging naked flesh. A child hunched down in the poor protection from harsh winds. With knees held tightly to her chest, she shivers, lifting her head up from its burrowed position between her legs. **

**She's lost. **

**She cowered in the small tree house in the slightly dense yet over seemingly large forest. To any five year old, it's truly a frightening experience. She recalled getting lost after straying away from her mom when she saw a squirrel, foolishly following it into the forest. It took the girl a while to realize that her mom was not within her sight, and neither was the park she had originally been. So, she walked round and round, until she came upon the poor excuse for a tree house resting not even ten feet above her head. Using the rope ladder, she climbed up to see the condition of the fortress, surprised to see it in considerably good condition. **

**The little girl stayed in the small house only for a little while before her anxiousness got to her and she decided to once again explore to see whether she could find her way out. When she went down, she decided she'd go in the right direction from the front of the tree house. Walking and walking through turn after turn, she despaired when she found herself back at her previous location at the tree house. Deciding she'd try again, she decided to go in the left direction from the back of the tree house. After walking around, it only added to her malice and anger to see that she had ended up at the house again. **

**Huffing, she promised she'd beat the darn thing, denying her own loss of sense of direction. This time, she went right from the back of the tree house. Walking, although weary and tired, she let out a pout and quivering lips when the accursed tree house came into view through the forested trees. She sat by the foot of the tree, her five year old mind had come up with the fantasy that a witch had lived in the forest and was currently trapping her inside in order to eat her. **

**Through the means of her own imagination, she only became more frightened as the sun quickly started to make it's way down, it's orange glow becoming less and less visible through the pockets of trees. Scared and desperate, she went out once again in the last direction she hadn't gone to, left through the front of the tree house. **

**Walk and walk she went.**

**With the setting sun, she walked much slower trying to ignore the scary shapes the shadows of the trees were making. She had tripped twice in her ignorance and even tore her shirt slightly. At this point she was already crying and tearing, but tried not to make a noise for fear the witch would hear her and eat her. **

**Hearing a noise in the bush, her eyes had widened in fear and she stopped in her tracks. The continuous noise did nothing to calm the five year old girl's heart before she started running at break neck speed. Huffing, she ran through the dark forest, the trees grasps scratching at her skin and tearing at her clothes. **

**She soon found herself in the familiar vicinity of the tree house. This time, she felt a small amount of relief wash over her as she quickly climbed up the rope ladder, huddling in the tree house for protection and warmth. **

**She held her knees to her chest and burrowed her head in between her legs, crying silently and praying for God to forgive her for throwing away her peas when she should have eaten them, her premature mind thinking it to be the reason and cause of her misfortune. Soft sniffles were heard from the fortress as the winds became stronger, hitting harder against the wood of the tree house. **

**Time passed, but the little girl did not know how long it had been. Stuck on the thought of the perilous witch out to get her, she did not think to wonder where her mother was, and thought only that the witch might find her to be all too delicious. Her hiccups echoed in the air, and she tried her best to suppress the small jumps her lung was putting her through. **

**What she didn't notice, was someone stealthily and quickly climbing up the rope ladder. A shadowy figure crept it's way up the ropes, and silently climbed up the tree house. The darkness was overwhelming, and so the new intruder did not see the actual figure hunched over in the dark, and the small girl was too preoccupied whispering prayers and letting out small sobs to realize the creeping shadow behind her. **

**Step and step. **

**The shadow inched closer, it's own heart hammering in it's chest. The shadow took in a deep breath, holding the weapon higher in it's arms, until…**

"**THIEF!" **

**The girl jolted straight and looked behind to the seemingly menacing figure of a witch with a weapon, almost close to charging her. "AHHHHHHHH!"**

**The shrill and girly scream took the "menace" by surprise, as it dropped it's weapon, and let out a scream of it's own. "AHHHHHHHH!"**

"**AHHHHHHHHH!" The young girl continued to scream out, this time being the one surprised by the reciprocated scream. **

"**AHHHHHHHH!" The back and forth screaming continued until the shadowy figure stepped forward, while the small girl took inching steps back. The small girl with her eyes shut tight, so that she might be eaten quickly and painlessly did not see the identity of the shadowy figure. The menace, revealed to be a harmless child saw the small girl in front of her who was still screaming until she clamped her hand on the girls mouth. **

**However, she quickly refracted the hand when she felt sharp teeth digging into her soft flesh. **

"**Ow!" She yelped out softly, trying to ignore the tears welling up in her own eyes, and the throbbing pain her hand was put through. **

**The screaming girl had halted, sniffling as she looked to her attacker and witch. To her surprise, she didn't see a witch, and in it's stead stood a young…girl she presumed, with large glasses on her head, shirt tucked in her pants which did not reach all the way down to her shiny black shoes, who was blowing on the hand she'd just bitten, and fighting to hold back bitter tears. **

**The new somewhat dorky looking stranger bit her lip as she held back the threatening tears. The young girl stared in astonishment that her attacker was not a witch but a nerd. Her mom had once showed her a picture of one, and said to never end up looking like one. She didn't understand why it was so bad, looking at the girl, she found the style endearing. **

**But the reality of the situation hit her hard despite her new distraction and she resumed her crying and again balled up in a small ball. The stranger, having succeeded in holding back the tears, was now curiously looking to the curled up frame in front of her. Pouting, she walked over to the ball, almost tripping over the thing she was going to use as a weapon, which had been a considerably large branch she had found on the ground. **

"**Why are you crying?" The glasses girl asked the girl in front of her, only to hear the sniffles that she tried to hold back. Her lisp was something she didn't very well like, and so she kept her voice low, as though it might help to keep it down. **

"**I don't know where I am." The small child replied back softly through a runny nose. **

"**I know where you are." The glasses girl said proudly, holding her nose high in the air at her arrogance. **

"**Where?" The crying girl had looked up from the stationary place between her legs, looking to the girl with a small amount of hope.**

"**Here." The glasses girl said proudly, as though it might have been a very significant location that might help her get back.**

**Pouting, the other girl realized the stupidity of the girl in front of her despite her nerdy appearance, which she had heard were supposed to be otherwise. "But where's here?" She asked with a pouting frown. **

**The girl in front of her furrowed her eyebrows and thought long and hard before answering. "My tree house!" She felt quite proud and accomplished with her answer. **

**Pouting again, the small girl decided to ignore the girl in front of her and continue on with her woeful misery. Her lips curved up again in depression and she once again stuffed her face in between her body and knees. **

**This time, it was the other girl's turn to pout, unsure and somewhat insulted that the mysterious intruder to her tree house had just ignored her. She furrowed her eyebrow before sitting down beside the hunched girl and leaning on her shoulder. "Shouldn't you go home, then?" She thought to ask. **

**Angry, the curled up ball jolted upright and retorted back. "I would do that, but I don't know where I am!" She tried to explain to the overly clueless girl. "Well, how'd you get here?" She replied back calmly and easily. **

"**I was chasing a squirrel when I suddenly found myself here." She explained quietly. **

"**Well, why don't you just try and go back?" Despite the innocent nature of the questions, the lack of thought behind them was surely annoying the girl. Unfortunately, she was too distracted to recalling all her stupid mistakes to even notice the naivety of the question. "I tried, but I kept ending up back here." She sniffled out.**

**The glasses girl tipped her head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean?" The unnerving part was that she seemed genuinely curious. **

"**I kept going round and round, and I kept walking and walking, but no matter where I went I always ended up here." She cried out to the now falling tears on her cheek. The glasses girl saw the tears shed and decided that she didn't like them. Smiling softly, she brought her hand up to the other girl's face and wiped away at the tears. The crying girl looked to her and saw the soft comforting smile she had on. With quivering lips, she threw her hands out in front of her and held on tightly to the stranger. **

"**It's okay." She tried to comfort the crying girl, but to no avail as she cried harshly in her shirt. She frowned, thinking deeply at a way to cheer up the girl and comfort her. "How about this, if you always end up here no matter where you go, then each time you get lost, I'll come here and find you." Having said the sentence quite naturally, it seemed almost as though the thought wasn't entirely preposterous, and it had given the other girl hope once more.**

"**Promise?" She looked up from her crying to meet a comforting and reassuring smile. "Promise." The other girl replied, holding out her pinky for the other girl to hold. Their smallest finger latched on the other and shook, sealing the hold that would be upon them forever. **

**The two girls let out a soft and shy smile at each other. "Hehe, why don't I start rescuing you then." The glasses girl replied, taking the other girls hand in hers. The young girl followed her in curiosity as she followed the girl whose soft grasp was on her arm. She lead them down the rope ladder and started walking in the dark, easily bypassing trees and obstacles as though she had night vision. The young was in awe at the ease she was walking through the forest with, and said nothing as she followed her out. **

**It wasn't long before the two girls found their way out, but the glasses girl continually walked along the road until they came upon a house. "Mama, I'm home!" She screamed into the rather large house, just down by the park. She opened the door and entered the warm home with the other girl in tow behind her, their hands still grasping lightly. **

"**Hey, honey! You know that you were supposed to come back here an hour ago!" A slight scolding voice was heard from the kitchen. "You know today there was a girl who went missing at the park, her mom went hysterical. I don't want you going out this late anymore." The yelling had gotten quieter as the voice had come out to where they were, only to be surprised to see her daughter to have another girl quietly attached behind her.**

"**I found her in my tree house! Can I keep her?!" The glasses girl asked excitedly. The elder women, stood jaw slacked at the small girl her own child had just brought in, before she snapped out and realized her daughter's question. "No, you cannot keep her!" She scolded her child before she walked on over to the young stranger and crouched down to her level. "Hey, where are your parents?" The women asked. **

**The young girl, now slightly overwhelmed and frightened at the new environment started to tear up again. "I want mommy." She cried out softly through hiccups and sniffles. The elder girl's heart broke at the sight of the young girl crying and she held her against herself. "Shh, it's okay, we'll get you back to your parents." She reassured the small child. **

"**Come on, we'll take you to the station, I'm sure your parents are worried about you." She replied softly and the small child only nodded at the gesture. She led the young girl out, only to see that her own child was following them, their hands still grasped together. "You can't go." She addressed her child sternly. "Your dad's in the backyard, just tell him I'll be out for a bit." **

**The glasses girl frowned in defiance at the decision her mother had made. "But I have to go!" She whined. "I promised that I'd rescue her." She explained her reasoning, but her mom was having none of it. Angrily, her daughter tried to stomp off, but was stopped to see that her hand was in being held tightly into another's. Both girl's looked to the lost child and saw her insecurity of being left without her newfound friend. **

**The mother smiled, seeing the girl clench desperately to her daughter's hand. She made an exasperated sigh before she turned to her daughter. "Fine, you can come." She gave in. A large smile bloomed on the other girl's face and she happily walked alongside the girl. **

**The three drove down to the station where they saw a rather angry and panicked lady yell at the police. "I told you already, she's an adorable girl, with adorable hair, and adorable voice, with adorable smile!" She yelled out to the police officer who was attempting to get a description of her daughter, but to no avail. **

"**Mommy!" The small girl called out, and the lady turned around her breathe caught in her throat as relief set over her at the sight of seeing her daughter. "Oh baby!" She crouched down and opened her arms wide as her daughter, still strangely accompanied by her friend, due to the linking hands, stepped right in the hug. **

**When the two finally separated, the lost girl's mother looked to the women who had brought her child in, and then to the child who was still currently holding her own daughter's hand. She opened her mouth hesitantly but her unsaid question was answered. "My daughter found her in the woods in the tree house there." The lady replied, and the women nodded her head. **

"**Thank you so much for finding my daughter, I don't know what I would have done." She said as relief continually flooded through her. "It was nothing, besides it's her should be thanking." The elder woman gestured towards her daughter, who was entranced with the other girl, as they both looked at the other shyly. The women smiled fondly at the two and pulled them both for a hug, slightly snapping them out of their world. "Thank you very much for finding my daughter." She said to the nerdy, albeit no doubt adorable young girl. **

**The girl merely smiled at the affection and looked down shyly to the floor. "You're welcome." **

**The woman smiled at the shy demeanor of the somewhat nerdy looking girl before she addressed her daughter. "Come on, let's go home sweetie." The young girl nodded at her mom before she turned around to face her friend. **

"**Will I see you again?" She asked her shyly. **

"**Of course you will, each time you get lost I'll be there to find you." The glasses girl smiled back. **

**They both gave the other smiling faces and shy blushes. **

"**My name's Ashley." The young girl informatively told her. **

**Smiling, the other girl replied back. "Hi Ashley, I'm Spencer." Her hands were brought up to her face, putting her falling glasses back into place. **

**The two girls gave each other one last glance before they went their separate ways. However, both knew that it wouldn't be the last they'd meet, since they were only a short trip to the woods away. **

**Turned backs went opposite ways, smiling faces still planted and would only grow to mature into smirking, and then grinning expressions. The start and beginning of the life, no matter how tragic it may have ended up, was here, at the tree house with their fated promise. **

I'm somewhere dark, cold, alone. Somewhere where our promise will never reach. I'm in the cavity of an eternal darkness it seems, where the only thing to be felt is isolation.

There's ample time, for escape is as dim as the light in here, and so I recollect my story, recollect my life. Let me tell you a simple fact, which is that I have a habit to divide my life into parts. Sometimes I divide it into small parts, such as age, or maybe the amount of time I had a hairdo, or even the length of time I didn't get in trouble in school.

But there's another divide for me. This divide separates my life into three parts, which seems a small amount having being my age in consideration to the length of the other parts. But this three part divide obviously begins when I was born, up till now. My life is divided from before I met her, to the day I met her, and to the day I lost her.

And now, let me illustrate through words, or thoughts as it may seem, being as it is the only way possible in here, the part which made up most of my life, which only led up to the what seems to be the end. Let me, through vivid pictures in your mind, and through heart wrenching emotions as I fully felt them, tell the part where she came into my life, to the day I lost her.

Let me tell you, despite you obvious distaste, our story, not entirely tragic, but seldom smiles, and lingering thoughts of the taste of another's lips. Now listen, and please understand, that I tried, and I tried, but it seems no matter how much I tried, it was to no avail.

But then again, it may have been all my fault...

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Sooo? You probably hated it didn't you? Yeah, I know. I did too. But due to my intense boredom, I will finish it just to get the story out of my head.


End file.
